From a Bitter Heart
by Johanna Night
Summary: Luke Castellan hated to admit it. But Percy Jackson would always be someone he envied from a bitter heart.


Let it be common knowledge that Luke Castellan loved his father.

* * *

He understood the Ancient Laws— really, who didn't? But still it bothered him that his father gave not even a sliver of his day to talk, to stop by, to ask—how was his son today?

He never understood why his mother had those fits— the fits where her eyes glowed green like a serpent and she lashed out, clutching at a table and muttering about his fate. All he knew was that he had to stay far, far away.

"Dad, tell me why," He begged the sky, not knowing that his father was really truly out there. "Take me away." He knew nothing would happen because his father was always so busy. But what father was too busy for his own son?

"My son," May hissed. "Terrible fate." And somehow he knew she spoke the truth.

He ran from home the next day. There was just too much too much for a ten year old to handle. He met Thalia only three weeks after he left both of them starving and hungry and suspiciously wary.

She became his companion, the one he could rant about the gods to—one who would never respond.

That night in a dark room of skulls and bones, the Titan Lord came to him. "Luke Castellan," He boomed in a voice like knives. "Will you denounce the gods?" Luke convinced himself it was only out of fear he agreed.

He didn't tell Thalia. Something told him she would not understand.

They found Annabeth almost 2 years later. She was quaking behind a sheet of tin, that silver hammer of hers flying quick and deadly. He grabbed her wrist as quickly as he could, his eyes taking in the pretty blonde with the stormy Grey eyes. She kicked and thrashed as he held her down.

"No more monsters," She screamed, clawing at his face. He smiled bitterly. His heart went out to her and he forced a real smile, a smile that looked genuine.

"We're not monsters," He promised, and wondered if he was telling the truth.

* * *

Slowly, slowly he developed a liking to her, as much as thirteen-year-old can have on an nine-year-old.

They stumbled across the border of camp, weary and bedraggled and caving with the lost of their companion. The instant that he knew something was not right was when the first thing he thought of Thalia's death was the loss of another demigod, and not a friend.

The thought scared him more than he cared to admit.

"I'm Luke Castellan,"He said to Chiron. The centaur smiled at him but it was one of suspicion. Even the horses at this place didn't trust him.

He pledged his allegiance to Kronos that night, and he heard the raspy voice again. "well done, my boy," Kronos's words sounded so much like the centaur. "You have made me proud."

He wished he could hear those words from his father, Hermes, but hearing them from Kronos has got to be enough. Because Kronos was the only one who would ever say these words. Because Hermes has never cared about his kids. Because none of the gods have ever cared about addiction

He was stuffed into a shabby With people spread out on the floor. The bunkbeds were overflowing with duffel bags and people who hung over the railings like pieces of garbage. None of them had ever heard of their parents. No one knew where they belonged. All of them were just like him.

That night at the campfire his father gave him a quest. A quest to retrieve the apples of the Hespirides, Hermes had said, but Luke wondered— what was the glory in repeating things people had done in the past?

They went anyway with two kids from his cabin name Bobby and Adam. The quest was hard, and Ladon was impossible to defeat. He didn't have the strength of Hercules or the charm heat of trickery. Bobby and Adam gave their lives to save him.

He blamed the gods.

If they had just been a little more careful, Luke reasoned, Bobby and Adam would've lived. It proved his point that the gods didn't give a Hades about their kids, and it made him want to cry. That night, Kronos came again, promising a future where everything would be bright.

He took the invitation with open arms.

After all, what could happen? The world was already in ruins from the gods rule and he truly believed Kronos could make it better.

He didn't know how wrong he was.

* * *

"We shall destroy the gods," Kronos announced, smiling at Luke. He was just an illusion, a piece of his soul, but Luke thought his promise was enticing all the same. "We shall bring them to their knees."

"Yes we shall, "Luke replied eagerly back. He couldn't wait to bring down the rule of the gods, for it had brung nothing but misery to all of the demigods.

Then Perseus Jackson showed up.

When he was young he was scrawny, and Luke couldn't believe that this was who Kronos said was the son of Poseidon. But his Lord had never been wrong, so he stood and pretended for all he was worth. From the naïve little smile Percy gave him, Luke you he had gained the boys trust. But for a long, long time he felt guilty.

For what? He wasn't sure but all he was he was about to ruin someone's life and that was against his morals. It's for the greater good, he reassured himself, but still fell asleep wondering.

He's still playful day after, on the winter so. The gods were so arrogant they didn't even have protection for their weapons, and it was oh so easy to take and go. He was long gone by the time the gods discovered the thievery.

Revenge was all too sweet.

As this master had hoped, Perseus Jackson was sent on a quest to retrieve the missing weaponry. He watched through slitted eyes and Iris messages, as they made it all the way to Hades. And then he saw the shoes.

The son of Poseidon had lied. He wasn't wearing them at all, but the goat was. Grover skidded down the road to Tartarus, and two of them chased after him. As much as he hated the gods, he didn't want to Annabeth to suffer. In his despair, he almost gave himself away.

Perseus Jackson was still alive when they came back from the quest, and Luke knew there had to be another way to eliminate the threat. The son of Hermes invited Percy for drinks of Coke, and the younger boy fell for it hook, line, and sinker. It was so easy, Luke felt abnormally guilty.

But the scorpion had already emerged. There was no going back. The son of Hermes forced a smile on his face as the creature sunk deadly claws into the boys leg.

And then he ran. Kronos had promised him a shelter for the week, and he was right. Before long, he was boarding the Princess Andromeda.

* * *

The years flew by so quickly. Thalia was back. Annabeth had not accepted his invitation to join the Titans. He was in exile from the camp. And he was about host Kronos in his very own body.

The dip in the Styx was excruciatingly painful. He remembered all the memories he forced to the back of his mind, like the look on Annabeth's face when she begged him with those Grey eyes. Like the smile when she grinned at him and mouth the words—I love you.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was falling for her. Despite their age difference, she was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen, and he wanted her for his own.

He wasn't entirely stupid, though. He let her choose. And to his dismay, she chose Percy.

He let her go.

* * *

The end of the war approached rapidly. As much as he didn't want to show it, he was worried for the outcome. He could feel Kronos weakening his resolve, and he knew in his heart he didn't want to hurt anyone.

Finally, he began to fight. He fought as hard as he could, but Kronos was always stronger than he was. Sometimes he had to stop just for the fear that the Titan would crush his very soul.

He remembered looking through Kronos's golden eyes, watching Percy and Annabeth stumble into the throne room. He watched like a horror movie as Annabeth head slammed into the base of her mother throne, and he watched like a horror movie as she looked up at him and pleaded with those Grey eyes.

And then suddenly he was in control again, and immediately he stumbled his way towards her. Percy dove in front of Annabeth despite his weakened state, his green eyes flashing like Greek fire. "Don't touch her."

Luke's control slipped for a few precious seconds before he regained it.

"Annabeth,"He mumbled, halfway in control and halfway still fighting against the power that was his former master. "You're bleeding."

"Family Luke," She croaked. Her voice was still beautiful, even in it's weakened state. "You promised."

And then all he remembered was grasping the hilt of Annabeth's—his—bronze dagger, and fumbling with the straps of his armor. He struggled to pretend that it was nothing, that he really wasn't about to what he thought he was going to do…

And then the knife slid into his skin with a sickening sound, and his world erupted in agony. His vision tunneled and filled with the red, until all he could see and feel was the leaving of the essence of the Titan of time. It was the most painful thing he'd ever experienced, but it was the best feeling he'd ever had.

When his vision finally cleared to a degree that he could see, he was lying sprawled underneath the hearth. "Going… Blade…" He managed to rasp, his voice coming out breathy and uneven. Another cough brought the taste of metallic blood to his lips.

The rest of his conversation slipped by as quickly as his life drained away. He had to know. He needed to know. And so did Percy. "Did you… Did you love me?" The word choked in his throat and he knew the answer before she even said a word.

"You were like a brother to me, Luke," She whispered. "But I didn't love you." As his life slipped away faster than he could hold, he gripped Percy's sleeve.

"Me. Ethan. All the unclaimed. " Percy stared him in the eye. "Don't let it happen again. " And then the last of the soul drifted into the underworld and his hand went slack.

* * *

Luke Castellan hated to admit it. But Perseus Jackson would always be someone he envied from a bitter heart.


End file.
